The OHL’s Oshawa Generals are expecting big things this season from 19-year-old Tyler Biggs, the Leafs’ top selection in the 2011 NHL draft.

The Maple Leafs have sent Tyler Biggs, their top pick in the 2011 NHL draft, to play this season in the OHL for the Oshawa Generals.

By:Daniel GirardSports Reporter, Published on Wed Sep 19 2012

Tyler Biggs is ready for his close-up.

Four seasons after starring in the GTHL and more than a year after the Maple Leafs made him their top choice in the 2011 NHL entry draft, the American power forward is set to debut in the Ontario Hockey League.

“I’m really excited to get everything going,” Biggs said this week as his Oshawa Generals readied for a trip to Peterborough to take on the Petes Thursday as the OHL season begins. “I’ve been waiting all summer just to play hockey, to be part of something and I think we can do big things here.”

If there was no NHL lockout, an outstanding training camp might have seen Biggs crack the lineup of the Marlies or even the Leafs. Now, he’ll log a lot of minutes in key situations for a Generals team likely to settle into the upper-middle of the pack trying to unseat the champion London Knights.

Widely considered to be the best junior hockey in the world, the OHL promises to be even more competitive this year as the NHL’s labour woes have sent a busload of top prospects back to bolster teams across the league.

“This is the right place for him,” said Oshawa head coach D.J. Smith. “We’re going to develop him. We’re going to play him a lot.

“Hopefully, next year, when he goes to either the Leafs or the Marlies, he knows how to play the right way and he can go on to his pro career. I expect him to be a big part of this team.”

But Biggs won’t have to come in and instantly be the Generals’ leader. With a core group of veterans led by captain, Canadian world junior team member and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Boone Jenner and Philadelphia Flyers 2012 first-round pick Scott Laughton, he’ll be able to focus on his game.

“We have really good leadership with Boone Jenner and all the other veteran guys,” said Laughton, who along with Biggs will be counted on to pick up the offensive slack left by the departure of several key forwards, including leading scorer Christian Thomas, Nicklas Jensen and Andy Andreoff.

“But gaining a top prospect like Tyler Biggs is huge for us. He’s a big power forward, he’s fit in well with the guys and he’s definitely going to help us.”

Biggs, who was born in Binghamton, N.Y., and raised in Ohio, spent all summer training in Toronto. In addition to conditioning, he was a regular student of Barb Underhill, the former world champion figure skater who works with the Leafs’ prospects on skating skills and drills.

Biggs, who spent two seasons in the USHL with the United States National Development Team after playing for the GTHL AAA Toronto Junior Canadiens, said he has no regrets about playing at the NCAA level.

For starters, the 68-game regular season and potential for more in the playoffs is akin to what Biggs will face as a professional. And coming in as a top-six forward in Oshawa, as opposed to a little further down the depth chart with the Marlies, means he’ll see the ice in all situations.

“I want to be a go-to guy for this team,” Biggs said. “I want to be a guy they can rely on on the power play and on the penalty kill and in certain situations when you can’t just throw any guy out there.

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity.”

So far, Smith, a rookie head coach after eight seasons as an assistant with the Windsor Spitfires, likes what he sees and hears when it comes to Biggs. He likes the way the kid uses his size and goes into the tough areas to make plays and has been surprised by how hard a shot he possesses.

“It will be a matter of him working to get himself into open areas,” Smith says of Biggs using his shot. “But he’ll be able to overpower some goalies.”

Smith, who welcomes another 19-year-old presence in a lineup that could include up to eight or nine rookies on any given night, said the goal is to see Biggs manage himself properly to appear in all 68 games, although suiting up for the U.S. team at the world junior championships might alter that.

“We just want him to come here and play hockey,” Smith said. “We want him to learn to play the right way, up and down, become the pro player the Leafs drafted him to be.”

Biggs not only knows he belongs here, he knows it’s “a great opportunity.” He insists he has no personal goals in terms of point totals and will mark his success as the season unfolds on how much time he “earns” on the ice.

“I really couldn’t ask for a better situation,” he said.

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